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Apple's Recycling Robot dismantles 1 iPhone every 11 seconds

24 March by Miriam Heale

Liam is Apple's new R&D project - a robot that recycles the iPhone 6S in 11 seconds, 350 units are turned out each hour, or about 1.2 million per year.

Liam is a 29 armed robot that has been in development and under wraps for three years. This smartphone-disassembling machine was something so secret inside Apple that only a few engineers who were hired specifically to build it knew about it. Furthermore, it’s a machine so unique that no other companies have it.

When a device is unfixable or unsellable, Liam dismantles it and sorts the components for recycling into precise piles of tiny screws, cameras, logic boards etc.

The robot is still in development, and Apple is looking to improve it, so that it can take apart other devices in the Apple portfolio.